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Luke Wilson (originally aired November 20, 2004)
- The Apprentice: Washington: Cabinet resignations, Iraq
- Debbie Downer
- Weekend Update: Clinton presidential library, amending the Constitution, Pistons-Pacers fight, Safire retirement
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| > | The Apprentice. Six members of the Bush Cabinet - most notably Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General Josh Ashcroft - have announced their resignations in recent weeks. Powell submitted his resignation letter to President George W. Bush on November 12 and announced it publicly on November 15; he said in his resignation letter that he was "pleased to have been part of a team that launched the Global War Against Terror, liberated the Afghan and Iraqi people, brought the attention of the world to the problem of proliferation, reaffirmed our alliances, adjusted to the Post-Cold War World and undertook major initiatives to deal with the problem of poverty and disease in the developing world."
Bush nominated National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on November 16 to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State. She will have to be confirmed by the Senate before taking over the position. A transcript of this press conference is on-line here.
Powell and Rice both helped build the case for military action in Iraq by arguing that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Powell gave a presentation to the United Nations in February 2003 in which he asserted that the United States had "amassed much evidence indicating that Iraq is continuing to make" biological weapons of mass destruction (on-line here), an assertion that was not backed up by post-war investigation. Rice similarly said that Iraq had acquired aluminum tubes that were only suitable for weapon-development programs, an assertion that U.N. nuclear-weapon inspectors have denied.
Rumsfeld has been criticized for his handling of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He did accept "full responsibility" for the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in a May 7, 2004 Senate hearing (prepared remarks on-line here), acknowledging that it was his ultimate responsibility toe ensure proper training of Army personnel and that "these events occurred on my watch."
| > | Debbie Downer. Debbie makes a reference to African conflict diamonds, which are diamonds sold by forces in the African countries of Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo to fund their military operations. The international community has been concerned about such diamonds (about 3-4 percent of all diamonds produced worldwide) since the late 1990s, and the United States enacted the Clean Diamond Trade Act in April 2003, making illegal the importation into the United States of any rough diamond that has not been certified as not being a conflict diamond. For more on this, go here.
| > | Weekend Update: Clinton Presidential Library. The Clinton Presidential Center (on-line here) opened on November 18 with an event attended by former President Bill Clinton, as well as President George W. Bush and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.
| > | Weekend Update: Amending the Constitution. Article II of the U.S. Constitution forbids foreign-born U.S. citizens such as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from being President. Specifically, it says that "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President" (for the text, go here.
Several proposals have already been introduced by both Republicans and Democrats to start the amendment process, but have not achieved much success as of yet. A proposal introduced by Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) on June 11, 2003 (H.J. Res. 15) would make foreign-born citizens eligible after 35 years of citizenship and 14 years of residency, and a proposal introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on July 20, 2003 (S.J. Res. 15) would make such citizens eligible after 20 years of citizenship. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) made a proposal similar to Hatch's in September 2003.
An organization seeking to support such proposals, Amend for Arnold (on-line here), began broadcasting ads on November 12. It also has tried broadening its message by noting that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is also ineligible for the presidency because she was born in Canada. Granholm was elected governor in November 2002 and had previously served as Michigan's attorney general.
| > | Weekend Update: Piston-Pacers Fight. A fight involving players and fans broke out in the final minute of the Detroit Pistons - Indiana Pacers game on November 19. Four players were suspended on November 20 pending an investigation.
| > | Weekend Update: Safire Retirement. New York Times columnist William Safire will write his last column for the Op-Ed page on January 24, ending more than 30 years at the paper, the New York Times announced on Nov. 15. He will continue to write his "On Language" column for the Times Magazine.
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Daily Show: A 2004 study found that 21 percent of young people regularly get their campaign news from comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live. So, some footnotes.
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By Stephen Lee
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